NRD- 1976 Fender Tube Reverb Unit

[KeepItSimpleTele]

Got a NRD (New Reverb Day) gear day coming up…

This one I bought quickly online as they don’t come up often. Pics are seller’s…but eager to get it and try it out.

It’s a silverface Fender Tube Reverb from 1976. They only made these briefly 76-78. Circuit is not a straight reissue of the 63-66 Tube Reverb Unit. These have 4 tubes! 3x12AX7 and 1x6v6gt. The additional 12ax7 in there is for an output buffer that mediates signal loss when the MIX control is turned up (re: on older tube Reverb Units the output gets significantly quieter when the wet mix is high).

Anyways…handwired eyelet board and looks clean from the pics. It will go well with my piggy back Tremolux and Bassman heads Stoked.

 

[Wally]

I would like to have one of these units. Congrats!

 

[Milspec]

Nice find

 

[naneek]

Very cool! let us know how it sounds when it arrives.

vaguely related, I recently got my hands on a silverface Fender Dimension IV oilcan reverb / vibrato made by tel ray. it's a neat little device.

I think it may require some service before I can start rocking, but the motor runs and it passes a signal so that's a good sign. I even have a bottle of ucon lb65 to replace the oil if needed.

I'm going to try a few other things first, like running a 22 db boost in front of it. That may push it hard enough to get some more wet signal output.

 

[InstantCoffeeBlue]

Neat. I had no idea these had a run during the silverface era. This would match my 75 Princeton NR perfectly!

 

[KeepItSimpleTele]

Received today and got a chance to run it in a 1965 Bassman for a while.

It’s really quite flexible. No one will confused it with an original Fender Unit sound or the reissues because it’s very different.

It’s quite rich sounding with some huge reverb depth when maxed out. Some might say darker sounding. I really like how the additional tube buffer keeps the output signal up even when the MIX control is extremely wet. There is something special most Reverb Units I’ve tried add to the guitar signal…almost a preamp-like touch (or a “special sauce” to the signal).

This circuit is clearly not typical for the Surfers out there as the “drip” is not pronounced…it’s there though. This reverb unit is very useful to me as I lean to Indy Rock, Alt Rock, Stoner, Blues Rock, Grunge….suited even. It can be dialed in to be subtle, very deep and lush, or anything in between.

I think with a few brighter 12ax7s and 6v6…this will be just about perfect for me.

 

[sax4blues]

Are you going full Dick Dale and hang it from the ceiling with rope?

 

[d barham]

Sweet unit.

 

[uriah1]

Cool. I remember seeing a performer had one hanging from a
Ropes/chain on stage to not touch amp.
Never understood that. Some kind of purists probably.

 

[Wally]

I think with a few brighter 12ax7s and 6v6…this will be just about perfect for me.

Does this unit carry the original electrolytics? That would be first order if not, imho.

 

[KeepItSimpleTele]

Yup...it's all original. It's headed to my tech along with a Traynor Reverb Unit (TR-1) at the same time. Both are getting electrolytic filtering caps done.

 

[Willie Johnson]

Very cool! let us know how it sounds when it arrives.

vaguely related, I recently got my hands on a silverface Fender Dimension IV oilcan reverb / vibrato made by tel ray. it's a neat little device.

I think it may require some service before I can start rocking, but the motor runs and it passes a signal so that's a good sign. I even have a bottle of ucon lb65 to replace the oil if needed.

I'm going to try a few other things first, like running a 22 db boost in front of it. That may push it hard enough to get some more wet signal output.

OP's box is really cool, and would be a sweet pairing with my SF Princeton, but I crave one of those things you have. Careful with the oil--iirc, that stuff is chocked full of PCBs.

 

[naneek]

OP's box is really cool, and would be a sweet pairing with my SF Princeton, but I crave one of those things you have. Careful with the oil--iirc, that stuff is chocked full of PCBs.

I think I will have fun with this thing.

Thanks for the heads up about the oil. I couldn't find much info online about material safety, but assumed it could be pretty toxic. I definitely won't be messing with this myself, I will have a qualified tech do the maintenance and will let them know to take safety precautions.

 

[Euphonica]

I got one of these still in its original box with hang tag, looked never used. Had an old insect nest inside the cab haha! Sounds very cool but not surfy or drippy at all. Then it stopped turning on so I haven’t touched it since. Probably those old caps. I should change them.